Baltimore's Reisterstown Road Plaza

Greater Baltimore's sixth regional-class shopping complex was built in the city's northwest environs. The first twenty-nine stores at RRP were in business by March 1962.
Drawing from Food Fair Properties

Baltimore's Stewart's chain reigned over the regional retail scene between 1901 and 1983. The REISTERSTOWN location encompassed 229,000 square feet and was the second Stewart's branch. The store, with its Chesapeake Room restaurant, anchored the west end of the shopping hub.
Photo from Library of Congress

The opposite end of REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA was anchored by a 185,000 square foot Hecht Company ( Hecht's), a retail chain in operation between 1857 and 2006. The REISTERSTOWN store, which included the Silhouette Room restaurant, was accessed from a lower level parking area, with its upper floor connecting with the main shopping concourse.
Photo from The Hecht Company

The original PLAZA was an open-air dumbbell plan mall with two anchors and nearly 700,000 leasable square feet. It eventually contained fifty stores, had parking provisions for 4,000 autos, and was the largest retail hub in the region. As a matter of note, the mall was (and is) situated within Baltimore City, which is a different political entity than the adjacent Baltimore County.

REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA TENANTS 1962:

STEWART'S (with Chesapeake Room restaurant and D'Arrigone Salon of Beauty) / HECHT's (with Silhouette Room restaurant and Beauty Salon) / FOOD FAIR supermarket / F.W. WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 (with bakery and ultra-modern luncheonette) / Ansonia Shoes / Baltimore Federal Savings & Loan / Benton's Tweed Shop ladies' wear / Best & Company ladies' & children's apparel / Bishops Holiday House toys & sporting goods / Calby's boy's & young men's apparel / Card Mart / Carefree Casuals ladies' sportswear / Carole-Ann Hat Shop / Equitable Trust Company / Fanny Farmer Candies / Forsythe Shoes / Grayson-Robinson ladies' wear / Gundy's Cards & Gifts / Hamburgers family apparel / Hanover Shoes / Hardware Fair / Hess Shoes / Hot Shoppes Restaurant / Household Finance Corporation / Lady Rose Corset Shop / Loft's Candies / Kavanaugh's men's & boy's wear / National Optical Company / National Shirt Shops / Peck & Peck ladies' wear / Plaza Barber Shop / Provident Savings Bank / Read's Drug (with Town & Country Dining Room) / Royce Shoes / Sachs Junior Shoes / Selis Shoe Repair & Cleanarama / Silbers Bakery / Singer Sewing Center / Tuerke's leather goods & luggage  

We now embark on a set of twenty-six vintage photos; these taken at the brand new Stewart's Reisterstown in early 1962. Above we see the interior of the elegant store's Reisterstown Road entry.
Photo from Library of Congress 

In this photo we see the Stewart's store's Ground Level sales floor. The interior of  the "Plaza" store was envisaged by renowned industrial designer Raymond Loewy.
Photo from Library of Congress

Another view of the Ground Level sales floor.
Photo from Library of Congress

The Ground Level escalators, which ascend to the store's second level.
Photo from Library of Congress

We now enter the realm of ladies' apparel.
Photo from Library of Congress

While touring the Better Dresses area at Stewart's, we stop at the entrance to the Country Clothes Shop.
Photo from Library of Congress

More Better Dresses.
Photo from Library of Congress

And the entry into the posh Camellia Room.
Photo from Library of Congress

Here we see the Varsity Shop.
Photo from Library of Congress

Then onto Corsets-Foundations.
Photo from Library of Congress

Finally, we enter the Ladies' Shoes department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Piece Goods...a.k.a. Fabrics & Notions. This section of the store is on a balcony which provides a view out of the store's main entrance windows.
Photo from Library of Congress

Above, we see the store's Silverware department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Here we see the Stewart's Reisterstown Housewares department.
Photo from Library of Congress

And the Garden department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Above, we have a view of the Stationery department.
Photo from Library of Congress

We arrive in the Stewart's Reisterstown Furniture department.
Photo from Library of Congress

In a model room in the background, we see a traditional-style dining set.
Photo from Library of Congress

Our second model room...this one displaying an Early American dinette.
Photo from Library of Congress

In this model room, we see the latest in ultra-modern dining. This furniture would be classed as Mid-Century Modern today.
Photo from Library of Congress

In this set up, we see a French Provincial boudoir.
Photo from Library of Congress

We now view the store's Rugs & Floor Coverings department.
Photo from Library of Congress

Now we enter the foyer area of the store's upper crust Chesapeake Room restaurant (did we remember to make a reservation?).
Photo from Library of Congress

A view of the main dining area of the Chesapeake Room.
Photo from Library of Congress

And another view of the Chesapeake Room's lunch counter or bar.

Photo from Library of Congress

With our 1962 store tour now over, we descend via the third floor escalator.
Photo from Library of Congress

Just in time for the United States Bicentennial! The open-air concourse at REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA was enclosed in the mid-1970s. The all-new "Weather-Perfect" mall held its grand re-opening in April 1976. As part of the renovation, twenty-five new stores were added.
Graphic from Amterre Development, Incorporated

The Baltimore Metro's inaugural stretch of rapid railway ran from Charles Center, in the center city, to a station stop situated southeast of the mall. The line opened for revenue service in November 1983.
Photo from Wikipedia / Adam E. Moreira

In 1995, both anchor stores have been retenanted. Stewart's shut down in  January 1983, with Hecht's going dark in August 1986. The original cinema, in the northeast corner, was twinned in 1980 and shuttered around 1989. The 5-Star Cinemas, a multiplex situated in the southwest corner of the shopping complex, made its debut in 1985.

By 2005, much of the West Wing has been demolished and rebuilt as part of a demalling. A freestanding Home Depot has also been built on the south side of the complex. The East Wing has not been physically altered. In fact, its enclosed concourse is still in place...at least for now.

Burlington Coat Factory occupies most of the Hecht's ground level, which is the building's second story. The Burlington store has been a mall tenant since the fall of 1986.
Photo from www.showcase.com

A frontal view of the Hecht's / Burlington structure, whose lower level is divided between several tenants.
Photo from www.showcase.com

Texas' SherDen Mall

Named after the adjacent cities of Sherman and Denison, SHERDEN MALL opened for business in November 1970.

Graphic from Enterprise Development Associates 

The fully-enclosed complex incorporated over 497,500 leasable square feet and housed fifty-four tenant spaces. There was free parking for over 2,700 autos. One of the unique features of the center was its electric power plant, which was fired by natural gas and-or fuel oil.

SHERDEN MALL TENANTS, 1971:

J.C. PENNEY (with beauty salon, coffee shop and freestanding Auto Center) / MONTGOMERY WARD (with Buffeteria Snack Bar and freestanding Auto Center) / S.H. KRESS 5 & 10 (with luncheonette) / KROGER supermarket / Bell Brothers Shoes / Bolen's Card Shop / Bresler's 33 Flavors Ice Cream / Can-Do Shop / Cinema I & II / Consumer Value Store / Continental Barber Shop / David's Book Store / Ellen's Dress Shop / Embassy Fabrics / Father & Son Shoes / First Lady Beauty Salon / Gallenkamp Shoes / GNC / Ginger's Boutique / Jaco's Men's Shop / Jo's Boutique / Karmelkorn / Kinney Shoes / Leigh-Ann's ladies' wear / Lilley's Department Store / Longhorn Ranchwear / Mangel's / Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio / Mode O' Day Frock Shop / Motherhood Maternity / Musicland / Orange Bowl / Orange Julius / Orleans Leather / Parklane Hosiery / Purse Strings / Rings & Things / Royce Shoes / Singer Sewing Center / Smartt's Levis / Stewman's Specialty Shop / SupeRx Drugs / Sweeney Jewelers / Tall Fashions / The Orange Bowl snack bar / The Plum Tree / The Uniform Shop / Tobaccoland / Topper's Men's Wear / Vaughan's Department Store / Wig Outlet / Wyatt's Cafeteria / Zales Jewelers

A vintage view of the fully-enclosed SHERDEN concourse.

Photo from The Denison Herald 

The mall included a twin cinema among its original tenants. This was expanded into a 4-screen venue in the late 1970s. A newspaper advert from 1982 shows four films currently being shown at the UA Cinema 4.

Advert from United Artists Theatres 

Mass-based Marshalls joined the REISTERSTOWN retail roster in April 2004.
Photo from http://www.inlandamerican.com / Inland American Real Estate Investment Trust

Giant Foods, a division of Amsterdam, Holland's Ahold conglomerate, opened a newly-built PLAZA store in July 2004. It was part of a new open-air section that replaced the mall's former West Wing.
Photo from http://rpai.propertycapsule.com / Retail Properties of America

In the 2010s, THE PLAZA housed seventy-two stores and services.
Photo from www.showcase.com

A snapshot of the Burlington (Coat Factory) mallway entrance. This area was rebuilt as part of a 2016-2017 second stage demalling. The entry seen here is now out in the open.
Photo from http://rpai.propertycapsule.com / Retail Properties of America

Post-renovation, Marshalls is now one of the few PLAZA stores with an interior mall connection.
Photo from http://rpai.propertycapsule.com / Retail Properties of America

Our final PLAZA plan shows the newly-demalled East Wing. Now, the only enclosed section of the complex is a small north-south concourse, which extends from an entrance facing Reisterstown Road to the Food Plaza food court. New stores, such as Petco and Five Below, have also opened for business in the reconfigured -and refurbished- East Wing.

The porte cochere at SHERDEN MALL. It served as the main entrance of this Texomaland shopping hub for nearly 29 years.

Photo from https://photos.google.com / Jimmy Ramsey

SHERDEN enjoyed its "only mall in town" status for 16 years. It was bested by the newer and larger MIDWAY MALL in 1986. MIDWAY snatched the SHERDEN J.C. Penney store. In an attempt to keep up, SHERDEN was given an indoor rehab, which included a remodeled Center Court.

Photo from https://photos.google.com / Jimmy Ramsey

One of two skylights installed in Center Court as part of the 1980s redo.
Photo from https://photos.google.com / Jimmy Ramsey

Our second SHERDEN layout depicts the mall in its latter days. Areas in gray indicate newly-built -or reconfigured- tenant space. By this time, a store exodus was well underway. 

SHERDEN MALL TENANTS 1989:

BEALLS / BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY / MONTGOMERY WARD (with Buffeteria snack bar, Garden Shop and freestanding Auto Center) / Allstate Insurance / B. Dalton Bookseller / Cinema 4 /  Foot Action / Foxmoor Casuals ladies' wear / GNC / Grandy's restaurant / Horizon Dental / Lilley's apparel / Orange Julius / Royal Optical / Sweeney's Jewelers / Swiss Pretzel / Texoma Savings / The Bicycle Shop / Van Mulder / Woodsong Studio 

As mentioned, SHERDEN was done in by MIDWAY MALL. This complex incorporated over 600,000 leasable square feet, with around seventy-five stores and services under its roof.
Graphic from TNP Sites, Limited Liability Company

In New Millennium retail, what comes around often goes around. MIDWAY MALL was outpositioned by the shiny new SHERMAN TOWN CENTER. This power plaza was dedicated in 2004.

Photo and graphic from https://www.lpcretail.com / Sherman Town Center Marketing Brochure  

A virtually vacant SHERDEN MALL was shuttered in 1999 and demolished between 2004 and 2005. A circa-2021 plan shows a proposed redevelopment of the site. The moribund mall would be replaced with thirty-three apartment buildings, with parking for 1,200 autos. The western rim of the property would be divided into retail pads. 

Drawing from https://edge-re.com / Edge Real Estate